Idolator
The shortlist of nominees for Canada's Polaris Prize was rolled out yesterday; the winner gets a $20,000 check (Canadian, which is like $2.5 million here now, right?), , while bloggers get something to write about during the dog days of July. The nominees—other than the Weakerthans' Reunion Tour, which includes "Civil Twilight" (above)—and as many representative YouTube clips as I could find are below the cut.
Black Mountain - In The Future:
Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers:
Stars - In Our Bedroom After The War:
Basia Bulat - Oh, My Darling:
Caribou - Andorra:
Holy Fuck - LP:
Plants & Animals - Parc Avenue:
Shad - The Old Prince:
Two Hours Traffic - Little Jabs:
Initial nominees that didn't make the shortlist include albums by the New Pornographers and Crystal Castles. Even their throwaways are better than our bands these days.
Weakerthans up for this year's Polaris Music Prize [Winnipeg Sun]
Comments
That Black Mountain record is so awesome.
This is where I once again mention my undying love of Kathleen Edwards and that Asking for Flowers is one of my favorites of the past year...
I get as giddy when Canada is mentioned anywhere as I do when Weezer is. The Weakerthans Reunion Tour wasn't their best effort, but I saw them live last November and the show was lovely. Left and Leaving is still, like, my favourite song ever.
@jfk1624: I'm actually torn between preferring Reunion Tour or Reconstruction Site. Anyway, very nice to see The Weakerthans get a mention here. They're sorely underrated here in the US of A.
@Mike P.: I'd have to go with Reconstruction Site. I'm actually surprised they haven't gotten any press on Idolator before. Weakerthans are fairly big in Canada (at the very least in Toronto) and their music is really solid. They're playing Lollapalooza and the Toronto Virgin fest--I'm super stoked to see them at both.
The Polaris Prize has turned out to be one of the coolest musical honours out there. I like how it gets people discussing great music that flies under the gross commercial radar. I think it deserves to go to Black Mountain or Plants & Animals this year but I have a feeling Caribou may snag it. One thing's for sure - all three groups have awesome live shows.
Pleasantly weirded by how many of the nominees I (a American) have seen, between Canada and Texas (which is as big as Canada, maybe twice, dunno). I dig Plants and Animals greatly, and hope that their being on the same label (Secret City) as last year's winner (Patrick Watson) won't count against them.
Plants and Animals: Montreal (Oct 07), Austin (Mar 08).
Caribou: Dallas (Oct 07).
Kathleen Edwards: Austin (Jan 08).
Black Mountain: Montreal (Oct 07).
Stars: Austin (Sept 06).
Basia Bulat: shut out of show, Montreal (Oct 07), due to criminally unscrupulous Pop Montreal fest presenters.
In Dallas, the Caribou guy band-led and drummed wearing yellow dress socks.
I'm really pleased about the short list, especially the Shad album. I was rooting for him, but wasn't too sure about his chances. He's a first rate MC - great songs with clever lyrics. Though I suspect great things like his OHIP references will get lost in translation across the border.
I really like the Stars album, despite the fact that it's apparently not cool to like it. "Window Bird" is pretty much one of the most addictive songs ever.
Basia Bulat is lovely and so are Two Hours Traffic. They're the epitome of adorable.
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